EUCALYPTUS. 243 



somewhat unsatisfactory state of our knowledge of the eucalyptus 

 oils of commerce : — " As lonsj ago as 1885, when the oil of 

 Eucalyptus was hrst made official in the British Pharmacopcpia, 

 Mr. C. B. Allen pointed out in the pages of the Pharmaceutical 

 Journal* the difficulties that arise when the oil of one species of 

 eucalyptu.s is dispensed at one house of business and that of a 

 different kind at another. The fact that the Pharmacopoeia allows 

 the use of the oil of E. glohulus, E. amygdalina and other species 

 (which may have different odours), places the pharmacist in a very 

 awkward position whenever a new oil of eucalyptus appears in 

 commerce. During the last two years a new variety of eucalyptus 

 oil has been introduced into this country under the name of oil of 

 E. oleosa. This oil has a decided odour of cummin and in that 

 respect is quite different from an oil which formerly bore the 

 name of " oleosa." The oil with the cummin odour is obtained 

 from E. cneorifolia, which was formerly considered by Sir F. von 

 Mueller to be a variety of E. oleosa. AYhen E. gloUdus was first 

 brought into notice as an anti-malarial agent, its properties were 

 considered to be due in a large measure to the volatile oil of its 

 leaves. Eucalyptus oil, therefore, soon came into use in medicine, 

 but the oil which entered commerce in this country was not that 

 of E. gloUthis, but E. amygdalina, an oil which had for some time 

 previously been in use in Australia. The reason for this is obvious, 

 when it is understood that E. amygclcdina yields nearly four 

 times as much oil as E. glohulus, and that the oil also possesses a 

 much more agreeable odour. After a few years the E. amygdcdina 

 tree appears to have become scarce in the neighbourhood of the 

 distilleries, and recourse w^as had to the " mallee scrub," a copse- 

 like growth of small trees, about 25 feet in height and extending 

 over large districts. The eucalypts of which it is composed are 

 chiefly of four species, viz. : — E. oleosa, E. dumosa, E. gracUis and 

 E. uncincda. The oil thus obtained entered commerce under the 

 names of E. oleosa and E. dumosa. At the time (1885) that the 

 Pharmacopoeia authorized the use of E. glohulus, the cultivation 

 of this species had spread to a large extent in Algeria, Spain and 

 the South of France. Oil of Euccdyptus glohulus therefore soon 

 appeared in commerce from these sources, as well as from 

 Tasmania, and also from California, w^here it is obtained as a 

 by-product in the preparation of a preventive of steam-boiler 

 * Pharm. Journ., [3], xvL, p. 537, 23rd April, 1892. 



